Hi All,

It was with great sadness that I had to leave the lovely Lowveld

bush to return to the city of Pretoria a few days ago. It is always

great to show tourists our beautiful natural heritage and it brought back great memories from my Sabi Sabi game ranger days.

From the day I arrived at Sabi Sabi (and I'm sure most of the other days too) we all started seeing great bush sightings, from the very elusive and secretly nocturnal Pangolin (scaly ant-eater) the guys found on a night drive to an African rock python catching & constricting a Common duiker (small antelope).

It was also nice to see the very successful lion pride (15 members) again, sleeping, walking & hunting together, what a powerful force to be reckoned with. Myself and Eric (tracker) had to track the pride one morning after finding fresh tracks from the previous evening, luckily the grass were slightly wet and we could follow their movements relatively easily - finding them lazing in the early morning sunlight. I forgot how it felt to get the good old 'adrenaline' pumping!

Rico, another guide, was very priviliged to see how an old male leopard stalked and killed a porcupine - a once in a lifetime sighting! The leopard is getting old now (approx.15 years) and might find it hard to catch more agile prey like a small antelope, and thus try his luck (& health) in hunting more dangerous animals like a porcupine.

One of the territorial female leopards also gave us good viewing

and she might be giving birth in the next few weeks, we are all

holding our thumbs.

I had great sightings during the last two weeks of a variety of animals, birds, insects and of course some of the most impressive sunrises and sunsets that only South Africa can offer. What a priviledge to stay and work in this beautiful country!

Till the next time.

Best wishes,

Wim.

From the Bush (Tuesday Jan'05 2010)

Hi Everyone,

I hope everybody had a great Christmas and that your 2010 got off to a great start.

I'm in the fortunate position to be able to help out as guide at Sabi Sabi Private Game reserve during the busy festive season and have been in the bush for the last 10 days.

The bush is extremely thick at the moment with a lot surface water still around after the area has received more than 300mm of rain the last 8 weeks. Everything from the smallest insect to the largest elephant is in a very good condition.
Since my arrival we've only had a few days of sunshine , which is not too great for photography, especially if you want the rich colours that the early morning or late afternoon sunlight can bring out. But even on a rainy day I never leave my camera behind because out here in the bush you never know what you might see or experience!

The birdlife is great with all the resident and migratory birds present, including the beautiful Woodlands Kingfisher (left) and Saddle-billed stork (right).

The game sightings have been great the last few days with regular sightings of elephants, white rhinos, Cape buffalo bulls, the pride of 15 lions and male and female leopard. The general game is also plentiful with nice sightings of giraffe, plains zebra, kudu, waterbuck, blue wildebeest (Gnu) & the ever present impala.

The weather is again not great today with overcast conditions and a light drizzle, hopefully the conditions will improve before this afternoons game drive.

Till the next time,

Best wishes,

Wim.

Hi Everyone,

The Wild Web Africa.com website has been up and running for the last 3 months and it has become time to add a Blog to the site.

The website is still in it's baby shoes.....but great things are planned for the future.....so watch this space!

My Brown hyaena (Hyaena brunnea) research project on Rietvlei nature reserve just on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa, is finally on the go. We struggled to get one captured, but managed to outwitt an hyaena one evening and fitted a GPS/GSM/VHF radio collar on the animal.

I will Blog the hyaena's movements and interesting behaviour on a regular basis.

We're looking forward to share the Wild Web Africa's world with everybody outhere!

Till next time,

The Wild Web Africa team.